STRATEGIES TO GROW YOUR SCHOOL FOR SUCCESS

Committed, Personal and Visionary Leadership
In their best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner noted that exemplary leaders model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.
These leadership qualities should define any school leader, be it the School head, Director of admissions etc.

Once a school leadership is incompetent or wrongheaded, student enrolment for such school is stunted, parents’ confidence wanes, teachers’ commitment to duty is affected while the students/pupils bear all the brunt.
From the investigation of SchoolsCompass team, it was established that the most successful schools today are actually those whose leaders:

Deploy the workforce effectively, with a focus on developing high quality teachers: Teacher effectiveness is the priority of any shrewd school administrator. They know the positive impact quality teachers have on the students/pupils and the school in general, so they devote a chunk of the school budget on teaching staff.

RETAIN THE BEST

Retention of effective teachers is also a vital characteristic of a visionary school administrator. Evidence shows that there are a number of factors that influence teachers’ decision to leave the profession such as work load and pupil behavior, etc. With a committed leader overseeing affairs of the school, these issues can easily be taken care of.

As a school administrator, do not compromise quality. Moreover, put measures in place to increase the chance of retaining your best teachers. Having a teachers’ Annual Appraisal is a necessity. Among other things, it takes care of incompetent teachers. Also, remove all unnecessary bureaucracy that could divert teachers away from delivering high quality education.

Have access to a skilled business school manager: A school business manager enhances your school efficiency. Until recently, the post was virtually unknown in the education sector, but now it is an integral part of schools’ leadership team. An effective School Business Manager is the dream of any visionary school owner because he/she reduces workloads for others (especially the school head) by taking away burdens and streamlining the systems within which all the staff operate.

In some schools visited by SchoolsCompass team, (both primary and secondary), it was observed that office of the School Business Manager plays a prominent role not only in managing the school’s finances, but in working with the head teacher and others who set the strategic direction of the school. They create a school culture in which every member of staff and the wider school community is aware of the need to make every penny count.

Don’t you think your school needs a School Business Manager?

MARKETING

Make good use of financial bench-marking information: Bench marking is a powerful tool for change. It helps schools to know the performance of schools that are similar to them, and also provide a source of information to challenge school leaders on how resources are used and on the school’s relative performance. It takes a visionary leader to fancy this modus operandi.

It is high time your school employed this model (if not already). Look out for schools that are rated similar as yours. Where you find that the school spends much less and yet achieve same outcome compare to your school’s huge budget in same area, contact them directly to know what they are doing right that your school isn’t doing.

All these are proven practices that outstanding school leaders used to grow their school. You too can do same for your school.Is your school practicing any of these ideas? Or do you fancy initiating them? SchoolsCompass will like to hear from you.

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